Biographies

 


Author & Painter Bill Puryear
Bill Puryear is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a veteran of the Korean War. He taught at Vanderbilt, Fisk, and University of Tennessee Nashville, and founded his own CPA firm, from which he retired in 2000. Since then he has divided his time between managing investments for clients, chairing the board of The Memorial Foundation, painting and writing. He and his wife of 53 years, Claudia, live on a farm in Sumner County, where he paints in his studio overlooking the Cumberland River.
He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and numerous other educational, historical and artists’ organizations. He serves, or has served, on the boards of the Gallatin Public Library, Sumner County Historical Society, Bledsoe’s Lick Historical Association, Sumner Academy, and Pope John Paul II High School. His essay, Sumner County, Tennessee, was published in book form last year, and his Artist’s Almanac is published monthly on his website at www.billpuryear.com. He believes, with Cicero, that, if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

 

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Author Jack Masters
Jack Masters Earned his BS Degree from Tennessee Tech University and retired as Engineering Manager at Aladdin Industries in Nashville, TN. A member of Bledsoe Lick Historical Association and Sumner County Historical Society he is currently serving on the Board of Directors for both groups. Long active in Civil War History, the pioneer era has been his focus in recent years, culminating in the publication of this series of books. He has written and published three family Genealogy books including Masters Family History 1691 – 1989 which traces his immigrant ancestor’s descendants into most of the United States. His books are now represented in the holdings of over 60 libraries and institutions in 26 states and may be viewed at www.jackmasters.net
Jack and wife Mary Betty have called Gallatin home since 1968. Travel, web page design, archeological metal detecting and presentation of programs on pioneer history and North Carolina land grants at local state historical and genealogical societies serve further interests. The Masters have two sons, Courtney and Matthew.

 

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Painter H. David Wright
H. David Wright Born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee, David Wright is a painter steeped in his subject matter - rural landscape and American history. Professionally trained with study in Europe, he has painted for forty years the subjects he is most passionate about - landscape, the Civil War and the Indians, hunters, settlers, and soldiers of the American frontier.
His feeling for history and his attention to detail have won him widespread recognition as the painter of pioneer America. Listed in Who's Who in American Art, Wright was commissioned in 1980 to do six paintings for the bicentennial edition of Nashville: The Face of Two Centuries. He also created the poster for the Fine Arts Pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair held in Knoxville, Tennessee. His subject - A Longhunter. Then he was commissioned to create an American icon - Gateway to the West - Daniel Boone Leading the Settlers Through The Cumberland Gap, 1775. This painting has been made into a breathtaking wall-size mural on display at the Cumberland Gap Visitors Center.
David has appeared on television as an historical consultant; most recently in Boone & Crockett: The Hunter-Heroes, which aired on the History Channel. He has also served as Art Director for Native Sun Production’s award winning Daniel Boone and the Westward Movement, Refuge in the Wilderness, and for the History Channel's and First Invasion - The War of 1812, for which he was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy.
In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Purchase Award at the Eiteljorg Museum Quest For The West Show for his painting Uninvited Visitors, now included in the museum's permanent collection. His internationally known works hang in numerous private collections, museums and galleries throughout America. David and his wife Jane live in a early American cottage overlooking a waterfall in Gallatin, Tennessee. His work may be viewed at www.davidwrightart.com

 

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